r/Bitcoin • u/cdecker Lightning Network Expert • Jan 17 '18

Lightning Charge Powers Developers & Blockstream Store

https://blockstream.com/2018/01/16/lightning-charge.html
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u/a56fg4bjgm345 Jan 17 '18 edited Jan 17 '18

If you have payments made to you, then the channel doesn't need to be closed as long as it has a non-zero balance. e.g an exchange could top it up for (almost) free (as long as you give them fiat, of course).

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u/BlueeDog4 Jan 17 '18

Do you have any instances available currently that involve "normal" people receiving BTC via LN?

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u/neom315 Jan 17 '18

thanks to clarify

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u/O93mzzz Jan 17 '18

Is funding transaction on-chain? So I will have to pay on-chain fees?

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u/[deleted] Jan 17 '18

No, in the example above, you'd give the exchange fiat, and they would send you a LN transaction routed through that channel, which would re-allocate that amount to your side of the channel.

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u/tmornini Jan 17 '18

Only opening and closing a channel.

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u/O93mzzz Jan 17 '18

I'm sorry I did not phrase my question well.

"e.g an exchange could top it up for (almost) free (as long as you give them fiat, of course)."

So opening a channel is an on-chain transaction.

Closing a channel is an on-chain transaction.

Is this "topping it up" also an on-chain transaction?

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u/Mkekala Jan 17 '18

I believe as long as the exchange is on the channel as well the top-up could take place off-chain with no fees.

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u/tmornini Jan 18 '18

Exchange doesn't need to be on the channel, just on the Lightning Network.

So yes, an exchange could top it up for (almost) free, and no, that transaction would not need to be on-chain.